1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to beverage dispensing and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to methods and apparatus for beverage dispensing with cold carbonation.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the post-mix beverage dispensing industry, carbonated beverages account for the largest segment of the different beverage types. Unfortunately, carbonation of a beverage can dramatically affect the quality of a finished drink. Proper carbonation must be achieved in order to consistently produce quality drinks, including minimal foaming.
Over the past decades, it has been determined that colder temperatures in the carbonation process produce better carbonation efficiencies and can be accomplished at lower carbon dioxide pressures. As such, the carbonation methods used to carbonate finished drinks have moved from ambient carbonators to various forms of chilled carbonators. A further deviation from this trend includes using prechilled water in carbonators to further reduce the temperatures in the carbonation process.
Current trends include casting the carbonators directly into a cold plate of a beverage dispenser. Cast-in-place carbonators operate at reduced temperatures due to the decreased temperature of the cold plate, thereby increasing absorption of the gas in the carbonator.
While cast-in-place carbonators provide increased efficiencies, it is often a struggle to maximize the size of the carbonator, without increasing the size of the cold plate. Further complications arise when the multitude of preformed dispensing tubes located in the cold plate must be adjusted to provide clearance for the integral carbonator. Attempts have been made to reduce the height of the carbonator, but have resulted in complex designs that are difficult to manufacture.
Accordingly, an improved cast-in-place carbonator design that would increase carbonator efficiencies, provide for simplified dispense tubing designs, and a decreased cold plate thickness would be beneficial to beverage dispensing manufacturers.